16 THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 



composed of hairs, agglutinated into a mass ; and in some 

 animals, as the prongbuck, of the rocky mountains, the fibrous 

 nature of its structure may be readily perceived.* From its 

 mode of growth from the cutis, horn consists of layers, or 

 laminae, placed upon one another, the addition taking place 

 on the inner, or under surface, so that layer after layer is 

 carried onwards by the successive deposits of others in rota- 

 tion. At some periods, a greater secretion and deposition of 

 horny matter occasionally takes place than at other times, and 

 this often produces a thickening, in consequence of the addi- 

 tion of the extra quantity of matter. To such a cause are 

 the rings at the base of the horns of cattle owing. The cow 

 generally exhibits one ring at the base of the horn when three 

 years old; a second is added when at the age of four years ; 

 and so on for several successive years ; hence, adding two to 

 the number of rings exhibited, her age is supposed to be 

 pretty accurately calculated. But this is fallacious ; for, if a 

 heifer become impregnated at the age of two years, her horn 

 immediately shows a ring, as it would have done when three 

 years old ; consequently she may be a year older than the cal- 

 culation. Again, in some cows the rings are very imperfect, 

 or not distinctly marked, and run into each other, so that it 

 is almost impossible to count them. Indeed, after the age of 

 six or seven, the successive additions are generally very 

 irregular and undefined, the surface appearing rugose, without 

 definite annular elevations ; hence the test cannot be applied. 

 Moreover, an aged cow may be made to appear much younger 

 than she really is, by having one or two of the upper rings 

 neatly rasped and scraped down, so as to become continuous 

 and uniform with the smooth surface beyond 



In the bull, which has thicker and shorter horns than the 

 cow, the first ring does not make its appearance until the 

 animal is five years old ; and the successive rings are often 

 irregular and confused. Sometimes, indeed, they can scarcely 

 be made out at all ; and all attempts to judge of age by this 

 test are nugatory. The same observations apply to the 

 bullock. 



And here we may advert to the peculiarities in the horns of 

 the bullock, which exceed, in size and length, those either of 

 the bull or cow. When the stag, or the buck of the fallow deer, 

 is emasculated, the antlers are either not reproduced, or are 



* It is so in the Burmese oxen with huge horns, described by Captain 

 Clapperton, 



